Emanuel has $4 million after NATO tab settled

Six months after the NATO summit, City Hall has hit the total button on the cost of hosting and protecting world leaders at a gathering that was historic for Chicago but a stretch for local resources.

The final bill for the city of Chicago was $27.5 million, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office, with more than $20 million of it covered by the federal government.

The remainder has been covered by some of the nearly $33 million in private donations raisedby the Chicago NATO organizing committee.

The private donations also covered the committee's tab for hotels for NATO guests, receptions and dinners for dignitaries, a media facility and insurance for the event. More than $10 million of the private donations was left over for the mayor to spend.

Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said $4 million of that surplus remains at his disposal after recent announcements on using leftover money for park improvements.

In response to a Tribune inquiry on remaining NATO expenses, the mayor's office said the city has submitted all of its bills for reimbursement to the event's host committee and the federal government, and so far has received $24 million of what it spent.

"We expect to receive an additional $2.7 million later this week or early next, and the remaining $750,000 in December," Hamilton said in an email.

The dollars already recouped by the city from Washington include about $7.5 million in costs associated with holding a national special security event, Hamilton said. Other grant money came through the Department of Homeland Security.

Emanuel long promised that private fundraising through the NATO host committee, which operated under the umbrella of his World Business Chicago economic development group, would cover any part of the city government bill that the federal government did not.

Chicago's corporate community responded, including companies whose leaders have become close allies of Emanuel. The result was a large surplus of money that NATO planners said would be earmarked for "legacy projects" that Chicago could enjoy for years to come.

The Tribune reported in August that it would be the mayor himself who would decide how that money was doled out.

The first recipient was the Illinois DREAM Fund, a state scholarship program for students living in the country without legal permission. Emanuel declined to detail how the donation came about, a move that suggested some of the money could find its way to places that could help him politically. The program is popular with leaders of the Democratic Party and Chicago Latinos.

In October the mayor announced a more traditional place for legacy money to be spent, saying about $6 million would be set aside for improvements to five parks, including Riis, Jackie Robinson, Cornell Square, Pleasant Point and Bronzeville-Buckthorn. Also in the package was $2 million for four new boathouses on the Chicago River.

The $4 million that remains in the NATO surplus is not subject to public disclosure like a political fund would be, as it was raised privately for the host committee inside World Business Chicago, which is a nonprofit organization. As part of its last annual report, WBC released just the names of donor businesses as well as fairly broad categories of giving.

Grosvenor Capital Management, headed by WBC vice chairman and Emanuel confidant Michael Sacks, was listed as donating in the $500,000-to-$999,999 range. Walgreen Co., whose leader Gregory Wasson is another WBC director and Emanuel ally, gave in the same range, according to the report.

Other companies with directors on the WBC board gave even more, including JPMorgan Chase, Health Care Service Corp., BMO Harris Bank, Boeing, Exelon and CME Group.

Leaders of some of those companies were added to the WBC when Emanuel expanded its board for the second time in his tenure at the beginning of November. Also getting a seat was Lori Healey, CEO of Tur Partners, who had led the NATO host committee.

As for the city itself, Hamilton said some of the major summit expenses included overtime for CTA workers and other Chicago employees, as well as pay for outside law enforcement agencies brought in to back up Chicago police. Also on the tab was funding paid to the University of Illinois at Chicago for housing and use of its other facilities, Hamilton has said.

Chicago police overtime topped $15 million, officials have said, an amount that was to be covered by the federal government outlays.